Surfing Cancer’s Waves, and Loving It

One way to read the planets right now is that they are all about relating and relationships. But what if you’re not in a capital-R ‘Relationship’ currently? That’s okay: as a human being, a great part of your existence is concerned with relating to others in a wide variety of roles—work colleague, friend, sibling, parent, child, etc.—in addition to lover/partner/spouse.

Plus, there’s always your relationship to yourself in all your various facets. That is, how you think and feel about your dreams, fears, desires, self-esteem, your history, your plans for the future. It’s the ways you navigate challenges and opportunities, the stories you tell yourself about them, and how those stories make you feel.

I’m not talking about self-absorption or narcissism. More like, the more clearly you can relate to yourself, the more clearly you can relate to others.

Currently, the Sun, Mercury and Venus are clustered in Cancer. On one level, this suggests domestic, family-oriented, mother-child and caring/caretaking themes and energy. You might be noticing this in your inner experience as well as in your conversations and impulses (such as to bake, clean the house or have a heart-to-heart; yes it’s cliché, but clichés exist for a reason).

Yet those three objects in Cancer are making some very interesting and potentially provocative or compelling aspects to other planets around the zodiac wheel.

The first of those is a grand water trine between Venus in Cancer, Mars in Scorpio and Chiron in Pisces. A grand trine connects planets in the same degree of all three signs of one element (in this case, water) with a sense of flow and harmony.

‘Emotional awareness’ is the phrase that comes to mind. Chiron brings the awareness piece; Venus and Mars add the relational element, especially with regard to sexual or romantic relationships (and there may be an element of ‘family’ involved). The water signs are all about emotion.

What are you emotionally aware of right now? What is asking for your attention, empathy, receptivity and action? What do you want out of it? Or, more to the point, how do you want to feel in a particular relationship situation? Trust your intuition.

There can be a kind of whirlpool effect with grand trines. If you’re noticing that your creative or sexual desires, some past sore spot/issue/pattern, and your ability to offer and receive caring seem to be feeding each other in a big ol’ circle, what’s the way out of the circularity and into constructive action?

That’s where the other aspects to those three Cancer planets come in.

In a nutshell: be open to surprises; be willing to air out what has stalled or reached a plateau; be curious and willing to discover what has been secret. Speaking in ‘I’ statements and listening with compassion can help to keep things clear, gentle and more likely to open out into new understanding, rather than triggering the impulse to close up and hide.

Again, this relates to your interpersonal relationships—but also to yourself. You might be surprised how often people ‘hide’ things from themselves. Then again, you might not; denial is a popular vacation spot (and no, I’m not talking about that river in Egypt…).

The aspects offering the nudges to dig (or dive) deep and surf the unexpected waves are the Sun and Mercury opposite Pluto in Capricorn, and Venus square Eris and Uranus in Aries.

Essentially, it’s okay to recognize that someone you’re close to and care about has changed; it’s okay to show others the ways you’re changing and growing and cycling through phases, too. It’s okay to experiment, to shake up routines, and to shift your attention from something that hasn’t been working so you can focus on something new that just might do the trick.

It’s okay to let love and caring (and desire) lead you. Fear just keeps you in denial—complete with metaphorical crocodiles. Surely you can think of a better trip to take with your hard-earned time on this planet, and all of this beautiful energy.